Developers say that the terminal would be able to accommodate modern liners that are unable to dock further up the Firth of Forth because of their height and width.

They believe that Cockenzie could accommodate at least 200 cruise liners a year, bringing around 500,000 visitors to Scotland. At present only Orkney has a purpose-built terminal for cruise ships in Scotland, although many liners call into Scottish ports around the country.

The cost of the entire scheme is expected to be around £300 million, with construction taking 10 to 15 years.

Site owner Scottish Power has been granted planning consent to replace the decommissioned plant (pictured) with a more environmentally friendly gas-fired version, but the firm says it remains “difficult to make that sort of investment decision” at the present time.

The terminal plan is the brainchild of Colin McCulloch, John Miller and Kevin Doyle, the Lothian businessmen behind Cockenzie Development Company (CDC).

Miller claims the new scheme could be “arguably the most significant economic development in Scotland”.

Professor Alfred Baird, a maritime transport expert at Edinburgh Napier University, was involved in a study for Scottish Power in the 1990s which concluded it was an ideal location for a modern cruise ship terminal.

“It would easily represent the biggest single economic development in East Lothian for generations,” he said. “People should be aware that there is currently nowhere for the large cruise ships to go on the Forth. Scotland’s capital region therefore misses out on hundreds of port visits by cruise ships and hundreds of thousands of visitors – Copenhagen gets around 500 cruise ship visits per year, whilst the Forth gets only 70 or 80.”